Russ & Daughters Plans a Museum Cafe

Russ & Daughters, the purveyor of smoked fish, herring and other Jewish-American foods on the Lower East Side, plans to open a cafe in the Jewish Museum, on the Upper East Side, early next year.

The shop recently opened a restaurant near its flagship on East Houston Street. The new cafe, Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum, will be on the lower level, and will also have a retail counter.

“The minute I came here, I said we had to do this,” said Claudia Gould, the museum’s director, who started in late 2011. “They’re really hip, and we want to try to make Jewish hip. We feel like the brands align. It took about a year to get it going.” She said the lower level space is being gutted and rebuilt for the cafe.

“We realized that it’s the perfect new home,” said Niki Russ Federman, an owner of Russ & Daughters. “We’re both important cultural institutions. We want to preserve tradition yet move ahead, so there’s a synergy in our values.” And unlike the fare at their other locations, the food will be kosher. “It’s a first for us,” Ms. Federman said, “but it will broaden our community.”